


At Last, My Love Has Come Along

by ThatOddNerd



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: ALL THE GOOD STUFF, F/M, Fluff, Happy, M/M, Romance, Wedding Fluff, college stories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 07:04:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14563617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOddNerd/pseuds/ThatOddNerd
Summary: To counter-balance the intense amount of angst in the show right now, I decided to start a one-shot series that will be filled with happy, fluffy stuff. :)Chapter 1: Wedding Bells Are Ringing, Part 1 - Sammy and Jack.Chapter 2: Rings, Pillows, and Jackets, Oh My! - Sammy/Jack, Bemily.Chapter 3: Wedding Bells Are Ringing Part 2 - Sammy and Jack.Chapter 4:  First Date Flukes -Sammy/Jack.Chapter 5: Whiskey, Spiders, and Kittens, Oh My! - Sammy/Jack.Chapter 6: You're The One That I Want. College Sammy/Jack.Chapter 7: Mission Possible. Ben/Emily.Chapter 8: Ten Years From Now. Sammy/Jack.Chapter 9: I'd Follow You: Sammy/Jack. Spoilers for King  Falls Chronicles Part 3.Chapter 10: Things Will Be Great. Sammy/Jack.





	1. Wedding Bells Are Ringing Part 1

* * *

 

It was a quiet day in King Falls, and so far the weather had been remarkably well behaved for this time of year. They were used to torrential downpours and flooding this time of year but so far it had been sunny and bright. Which was good, because there was a wedding to be had. One that was nearly four years in the making, and not because those getting married wanted it to be a long engagement.

Jack and Sammy had managed to escape from the many people who were there for the wedding and in the wedding party, to have a quiet moment to themselves before they made it official in a few hours. Ben and Troy had tried to insist on them being separated the night before the wedding so they only saw each other during the wedding, which earned them reproachful looks from the two grooms.

“Ben, it’s not like we’re blushing virgins. There’s no innocence to be protected here.” Sammy commented when they had come to the two the night before during the rehearsal dinner. Troy and Ben blushed, and Sammy caught the mischievous expression on his fiancé’s face.

“The innocence has been lost many times. Many, many times. In college, in Los Angeles, in Seattle…” Jack began, his ridiculous shit-eating grin that made Sammy want to slap him sometimes but also kiss him, on full display. Ben and Troy’s blushes were getting brighter now, and Troy was mumbling something about too much information while Ben was trying, Sammy was sure, to get the ground to swallow them whole. “In Sammy’s old apartment. At our new house…”

“At the station once or twice in my office.” Sammy added, his face a study in innocence as he looked away from the two men in front of him, sipping his beer.

“Oh dude come on…” Ben muttered, his hands covering his face.

They decided not to hold with tradition very quickly after that.

Sammy and Jack sat on a porch swing of the guest cabin at Lake Hatchenhaw, where the wedding was to take place, mugs of coffee in hand, just watching the lake before them, enjoying the peace. Sammy sighed and laid his head on Jack’s shoulder, enjoying the moment before the chaos.

“Tired?” Jack asked, taking Sammy’s unoccupied hand with his unoccupied hand.

“A bit. But mostly I’m just…happy.”

“Weird feeling happiness.” Jack commented.

“Yeah it is. It’s awesome.” Jack laughed and squeezed Sammy’s hand.

“Do you remember….do you remember the first time we kissed?” Jack pondered, watching from a distance as Emily and Ben snuck off from the wedding area where everyone was setting up.

“I remember a party where we were both profoundly drunk and making out on the host’s bed before Lily stumbled into the room looking for us and declared that she ‘was just looking for her idiots, she didn’t want to walk into a porno.’” Jack laughed again, and Sammy enjoyed the sound and the vibrations it emitted when he did. Jack laughing was his favorite sound in the world.

“Can I tell you a little secret?”

“Of course you can.”

“I wasn’t…I wasn’t that drunk. I mean I was drunk…but the next day when we…I…  I mean we just kind of categorized it as a drunk mistake but…”

“I wasn’t that drunk either.” Sammy admitted.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I remember the entire thing.” Sammy blushed, feeling a bit like a high schooler.

“That was almost a year before we got together.” Jack tried not to cringe over how oblivious they were in college, but he was failing.

“Yeah. We weren’t very observant, were we?”

“No we weren’t. Lily once told me that being around the two of us, especially in that year before we got together was torture. We were apparently painfully oblivious.”

“Well, I’d say we got over that, wouldn’t you soon to be husband?” The way Jack’s face lit up over his words sent a warmth through Sammy that he thought, for a long time, he’d never feel again. The type of warmth that made you do stupid shit like try to enter a void and challenge multi-billion-dollar corporations.

“Yes, yes we did soon to be husband.”

Ben and Emily reappeared from the woods, Ben looking flustered, Emily with a huge grin on her face, leading Ben by the hand. They spotted the two men on the porch of the guest cabin, and Emily waved and nodded, which earned her a wave and nod back from the two.

“So, tell me, have you seen what Ron is wearing to the wedding?” Jack asked, picking up his mug of coffee that had been forgotten in favor of cuddling up with Sammy.

“No, I haven’t. He said he wanted it to be a surprise. How did you find out?”

“Wrong place, wrong time situation.” Jack replied, taking a long sip of coffee. “I went with Troy and Emily to talk to him about table arrangements, and he was dancing around his living room wearing the outfit.” Sammy laughed, a full-bodied laugh that vibrated through the chair.  “Emily laughed, Troy went ‘Dear God man.’, I wanted to take my phone out and snap a photo to send you, but I thought nah, it’ll be a surprise.”

“Is there a cape involved?”

“There is indeed.”

“Jack in the Box Jesus…” Sammy covered his face with his hands, laughing. “Only Ron Begley could pull off wearing a cape to officiate someone’s wedding.”

“I’m just happy I was able to stop Lily from wearing that shirt that said ‘Sammy Sux With Jack N A Box’.” Jack commented, trying not to laugh. Sammy snorted into his coffee and began choking. “Don’t die. Not two hours before our wedding.”

“Where the hell did she…”

“Online custom print shop.”

“Dear god…”

“In fact, hold on…” Jack got up, much to Sammy’s chagrin, and practically skipped back inside the cabin, returning a minute later with a wooden frame. He plopped the frame on Sammy’s lap, picture side down, and sat back down next to him, grinning.

“What…”

“Just turn it over.”

“That’s what…”

“He said. Yes, I know. Turn the frame over.” Jack insisted. Sammy obliged, and let out another whoop of laughter at the sight. It was the aforementioned shirt, a bright red shirt with rainbow letters, in a curvy font. “I asked and she was more than happy to hand it over. She even insisted on having it framed herself.”

“Our family is weird.” Sammy said, leaning back into the chair, watching the commotion of the set up across the little inlet of the lake.

“Yeah, but great.” Jack added, holding up his mug towards Sammy’s, signaling that they should do a ‘Cheers’ clink. Sammy smiled and held his mug up, gently clinking it against Jack’s.

“Yeah, they are pretty great.”

And so were Sammy and Jack.

 


	2. Rings, Pillows, and Jackets, Oh My!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On a quiet morning, during their day off, Jack and Sammy are visited by a frantic Ben, talking a mile a minute about Emily, a jacket, and a ring box.

* * *

 

Sammy and Jack had been spending a quiet morning at home, lazily watching television on the couch, phones on silent, and enjoying the peace and quiet.

That was until, of course, someone started frantically knocking on their front door, causing both men to frown.

“Your turn.” Sammy said, nudging Jack, who was slumped against him, arm around his shoulders “I got it when Troy came over yesterday.” Jack rolled his eyes, getting up swiftly, making sure that his husband’s body didn’t have time to brace itself for a sudden loss of support. With the sounds of Sammy grumbling as he walked to the front door, which was still being frantically knocked on by whoever was on the other side.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Jack shouted, but the knocking didn’t cease. Jack sighed as he turned the knob, only to see Ben, hair disheveled, panic in his eyes, hand poised mid-air to knock once again. “Hi Ben, how’s it going? Not that it isn’t lovely to see you as always, but today is mine and Sammy’s day off. I thought we agre…”

“I know, I’m sorry. I know it is. But I’m having a crisis and I need your guys’ help and…” Jack frowned at the younger man’s look of pure terror and panic, and stepped aside. Ben shot through the door and went straight down the hallway, turning left without a thought, into the living room.

“Our son is here to see us!” Jack called out in a sickly-sweet sing-song voice.

“Fuck you Jack!” came Ben’s strangled reply, making Jack laugh. When he arrived back in the living room, it was to Ben talking at the speed of sound to his bewildered husband, who was looking at the younger man like he was trying to decipher the DaVinci Code all on his own.

“Alright, Ben…Ben…BEN!” Sammy’s loud voice had a way of making people give pause that few other people Jack had ever met could, and it worked this time as well. Ben stopped talking, but the look of panic was still on his face. “Slower this time. What is going on?”

“I just came from Emily’s.” Ben began, his breathing starting to calm down.

“Okay.” Sammy added, nodding. “And?”

“And we had just been having breakfast and were about to leave because we were gonna go for a hike out by Big Pine. And I was about to go get my jacket from her room when Merv called to talk about possibly adding a contest to the show for the summer…” Jack and Sammy looked at each other, confused, but both nodded, trying to encourage him to keep going. “So Emily says ‘I’ll grab your jacket, don’t worry.’ and goes down the hall to her room to get both of our jackets. I talk to Merv for a few minutes and then notice that Emily hadn’t come back into the living room. I went to go look for her in the other room and…”

“Is she alright?” Sammy asked, panicking.

“Why are you here? Is she okay? Did you call an ambulance?” Jack interjected, moving to get up.

“She’s fine! She’s fine! Jack in the Box Jesus! She was sitting on her bed holding my jacket in one hand and…and…” Ben started blushing, from the collar of his Transformer’s shirt to the mass of dark curls on his head, and suddenly the air in the room shifted from life-threatening panic to the dawning realization that Ben was embarrassed and panicking because…

“A ring box in the other?” Jack offered, eyebrow raised. Ben buried his head in his hands and nodded. Jack grinned, and Sammy started grinning as well. “Sammy, our son is getting married.”

“I knew this day would come Jack, it’s beautiful.”

“I hate you two…” Ben grumbled from his hands, making Jack and Sammy laugh.

“Wait, so when was this? Where is she now? Why are you here and panicking? When Jack and I got engaged you couldn’t separate us with a fucking crowbar for nearly 24 hours, and we’ve proven to be a bit shit at this lovey dovey stuff in the past. I’d expect you two would have been calling people, glued to the hip or…”

“Oh my god, you freaked out and left didn’t you?” Jack cut in, the realization hitting him like a brick. “You freaked out and ran down the hill to our house…” As if on cue, through some mystic force, there was another knock on the front door, gentle but insistent. Sammy got up this time and eyed Ben with a look of pity. “Ben, man, what the hell?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know okay! I panicked! She was sitting there on the bed, staring at the box and looking completely dumbfounded and I panicked because then I realized, oh god, what if she doesn’t want to get married? What if she doesn’t want to marry me? What if…”

“Man, look, I get it. I proposed to Sammy and he was so surprised he stood there gaping at me for a solid two minutes before he responded, but it was just shock. The next minute his eyes readjusted and he literally jumped me and we fell onto the floor like a couple of idiots with him muttering ‘Yes, of course I’ll marry you you idiot.’ over and over again. But…”

“I didn’t even propose yet, I just…I panicked. I froze up, then I panicked, and I booked it out of the house.”

“And thought ‘Hey, you know what I should do right now instead of going back inside and proposing to the love of my life? Go visit my honorary gay dads.’?” Jack was teasing, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit bad at the look of defeat on Ben’s face. “Listen, Ben…”

“Jack dear, our other honorary child has shown up at our doorsteps looking for the first honorary child. We’re gonna need to get a bigger house, we don’t have enough bedrooms for this.” Sammy said as he sauntered into the room, grabbed his husband by the arm, and pulled him up off the couch. “Our kids need some room to talk about some things. I say we move our alone time into the bedroom and work on giving them a sibling.”

“Sammy, that’s not how…ouch!” Jack gently rubbed at his butt where Sammy had pinched it on the way out of the room, a scene that made Emily laugh. Ben took a deep breath, wondering why he was so scared of what was about to happen. He faced the world head on, shot down a UFO with a laser gun to get back the woman he loved, helped his best friend tear open the universe to get the love of _his_ life back, challenged local government and corrupt sheriffs. He’d done all that and yet he was afraid to ask said love of his life to marry him. He finally worked up the courage to look at Emily, and the first thing he noticed was a shiny glint on her hand. ‘Emily didn’t usually wear rings, when did that start?’ was the firs thought that came into his head, and his second was…

Oh.

OH.

She was wearing…

“ So, Benny, are you going ask me officially or am I going have to tell my mom you ‘proposed’ to me by leaving the box in your jacket and then running out of the house to our best friends’ place down the hill when I found it and didn’t have time to say yes?” Ben flushed again, which made the smile on Emily’s face widen a bit. There was something about winding Ben Arnold up that was so satisfying, but only when one knew it would have a good outcome for both parties.

“E-Emily….Emily Potter would…would you…”

“Would I what…Ben?” Emily inquired, moving to sit next to him on the couch. “Would I what?”

“Would you ….would you do me the honors of…of marrying me?” Ben choked out, looking as if he had run the King Falls marathon in less than 5 minutes. Emily grinned again and enveloped him in a hug, pulling him as close as she could. “I take it that’s a yes?” Ben commented, the smartass.

“Yes, of course it’s a yes you nincompoop, I am wearing the ring.” Emily muttered, tears starting to fill her eyes as Ben pulled away from the hug, smiled, and then kissed her.

Just as the intensity of the moment started to die down, and the kiss became leisurely, they heard a click and shutter sound, making them spring back, look around, and see Sammy and Jack, with Jack holding his phone up, clearly having just taken a photo, at the entrance to the kitchen, which was just across the hallway from the living room.

“Aw, Sammy, our kids are growing up and getting married.” Jack joked, lowering his phone.

“They grow up so fast. Before you know it they’ll be complaining about mortgages and 401Ks…” The two older men laughed as they dodged a couch pillow chucked their way by a blushing Emily Potter, a once again beet red Ben Arnold sitting next to her and handing her another pillow.


	3. Wedding Bells Are Ringing Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This wedding was a long time coming, but damn was it worth the wait.

* * *

 

“Sammy, I remember the first time I saw you like it was yesterday. I told myself before I entered that classroom ‘I’m going to sit next to the hottest guy there.’, and I walked in, and I saw you sitting in the back, and thought ‘Bingo. I found him, and no one’s sitting next to him yet. It must be fate.’. I still think it was. I wonder if a part of me knew how important you would be to me one day, but I don’t think I did. I remember thinking ‘Jesus, I need to make this guy my friend. Lily would love him.’ And then we became the Three Musketeers, we were inseparable. We moved into that apartment in L.A. together our second year. I think by then…by then I was at the very least crushing hard. I may have already been falling for you. Lily tells me that we were already pining for each other before that but I think she might have been projecting…”

“Fuck you Jack.” Lily muttered from her spot nearby. Sammy and Jack laughed.

“Ah man, yeah, she’ll never forgive me for snatching you up first…”

“Jack, I swear…”

“But beyond that…beyond that Sammy, you were, and still are, my best friend, my favorite person, you’re my person, you’re my forever. You were always there for me when I was struggling in college, and when we started at that first station. You were there when I was going through that rough break up, although looking back I think even then I knew… I knew I really wanted to be with you, not that jerk from our Communications class. Also, I could sense the relief in you when I told you. It makes a lot more sense now.” This last line gets a laugh from the people in the seats to the right of them. “We broke up once, after…after we moved. And I knew, technically I knew we could function without each other but… Everything felt so…hollow without you. We could function alone, sure, but we thrived together. And when your heart isn’t with the heart its supposed to be with, there is a dull ache that won’t go away. We got engaged, and you stuck by me through all the crazy things I would become obsessed with. Even when…even when I became obsessed with something that would tare us apart for over three years. But you…you never gave up. Even when you thought you had, you hadn’t. And every day that went by where I was, I would think about you. I would think about a lot of things, but the thing that kept me going was the idea that I might get to see you again someday. That I would get to marry you. That we could settle down somewhere quieter maybe, start our lives anew, get away from the ridiculous stress we had in Seattle. But most of all…most of all I just wanted to see you again, touch you, feel your heartbeat again. To kiss you again, wake up next to you again, hear your laugh, listen to your voice in the headphones at the station. We’ve been through so much Sammy, so much, and to think…to think we’re finally getting our happy ending, that we found a place we can be us, we can be happy, is the greatest thing I could ever hope for. I love you.” Jack could hear sniffling coming from nearby, and knew Lily and Emily were both crying and…Ben? Yes, Ben and Troy were crying as well. Good to know he could still be eloquent.

“Jack…” Sammy was starting to tear up as well, and shit…Jack felt the tears welling in his eyes as well. He really shouldn’t have turned down the pocket handkerchief Troy had offered him earlier. “Jack, you’re…you’re my world. For the longest time, the only family I had was you and Lily, and now…now I’m lucky enough to have found a family here in this weird little town in the mountains but you… you were always it for me. I can’t say either that it was love at first sight, but when I started falling for you…man, I fell hard. And I remember wondering in college if I ever had a chance with you, and when…when you started dating that one guy, I thought my chance was shot forever. So when you broke up with him, oh man, it took everything within myself to _not_ jump for joy, I… of course, according to Lily we were so pathetically pining away for each other we probably could have gotten together at any point and still be going strong. We weren’t the most observant people ever.” Jack laughed through his tears. “ I…shit, I’m not as eloquent as you Jack… I remember the day you went missing it was…it was the worst moment of my life. Worse than when you were dating that guy, worse than when we broke up. A hole had punched its way into me and hung there for years. The only thing that kept me going was the absolute slightest possibility that I would see you again. That’s all I wanted, all I needed, because that whole situation just felt so damn impossible. I knew that if I could just see you again, I’d be… I had dreams, about us, about our past and our future. I dreamed about the day we met, our first kiss, our engagement, and all the little moments in between. I dreamed about fights we had, about when we broke up and got back together. I always dreamed about you Jack. I dreamed about our reunion, our wedding, I dreamed about us. Being away from you, yet ironically, little did I know, so close, was torture. But you’re here now, you’re safe, you’re with me, and here we are, in front of friends and family, a beautiful day in front of a lake, getting married. I don’t think I knew either that day we met that I was meeting the love of my life, but god, I am so glad I did. I’m so glad you sat next to me. I’m so glad we became friends. I’m so glad I decided to take that class last minute. I am so glad that…that you had the courage to kiss me that day on the couch, and that we decided that whatever happened, it would be worth it, because Jack in the Box Jesus, it was. It was more than worth it. I just wish I’d had the guts to be more honest with myself and the world before. I wish I hadn’t been so…I wish I’d been willing to live our lives to the world honestly. I wish for so much, but I know, in the end, the past is the past, and I want to spend the rest of our lives together showing you just how much I love you. How much I never, ever want to lose you again. How much I need you. I love you, Jack Wright.”

“I’m pretty damn fond of you myself Stevens.” Jack countered, laughing through his tears, making Sammy roll his eyes.

“Now…” Ron started, sucking in a breath. Sammy was never going to let him live this down. “Do you, Jack Wright, take this man, Sammy Stevens, to be your lawfully wedded husband, for so long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” Jack replied, his eyes locked with Sammy’s.

“Do you, Shotgun…” Sammy turned momentarily to glare at the man standing by them, making the man laugh. “Just kidding, just kidding. Do you, Sammy Stevens, take this man, Jack Wright, to be your lawfully wedded husband, for so long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” Sammy said, before Ron could even finish his sentence. Laughing, Ron continued.

“Do you all have the rings?” Ron asked Ben and Lily. They nodded and handed them to Sammy and Jack respectively. They put them on each other’s hands, smiling. “Then I am proud to say, by the power vested in me, through the county and town of King Falls, and the state of Pennsylvania, I now pronounce you, husband and husband.” Ron finished, hooting and hollering, leading the crowd as Sammy and Jack had their first kiss as husbands. As they turned to meet the crowd, who were now standing and clapping, Sammy pulled Jack even closer, hugging him tight from the side and kissing one of his temples.

“Hi there husband.” He whispered into Jack’s right ear, causing a wide grin on the other man’s face.

“Hello to you too husband.” He responded, leaning his head on Sammy’s shoulder.

“Welcome to the family Stevens.” Lily added, coming up behind them and hugging them both from the back. “Regret it yet?” she asked jokingly.

“Never.” Sammy replied, weaving his left hand and Jack’s right together. “Now, time for photos and then party yeah?”

“Yeah.” Jack nodded as they stepped down from the small stage they were on, and down the aisle to the first spot for pictures.

The wedding of Samuel Stevens and Jack Wright was a long time coming, but for those involved, it was worth the wait.


	4. First Date Flukes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack tells Emily about how he and Sammy got together, and the two of them share a bit of themselves.

* * *

 

“So, I know how you guys met, but how did you and Sammy get together?” The question came after a long, comfortable silence between the two of them while they laid on the couches in Sammy’s… no… Sammy _and_ Jack’s living room during one of their sleep overs while the guys were at the station working. Jack appreciated the company, and the fact that Emily could understand what he was going through. Different places, same experience, it was hard to explain to someone who hadn’t been in such a strange situation as they have. Sammy tries, and Jack loves him for it, but Sammy also knows he’ll never fully be able to understand, so he told Jack to talk to Emily, who did understand, in her own way. Jack loved Sammy for that as well. During these little sleepovers, which would start when Ben and Sammy headed out to go up the mountain to the newly reconstructed station, and be either at Emily’s or Sammy and Jack’s place, occasionally at Ben’s, they would talk, they would watch movies, they would listen to their significant others on the radio, and sometimes, if they were lucky and either a light was on or at the very least, a bright night light, they’d sleep. They’d gotten to know each other pretty well in the last few months since Jack returned, and Emily was rapidly becoming one of his closest friends, for which he was grateful.

Even when she unintentionally asked questions with embarrassing answers.

Emily was eyeing him from behind her mug of tea, perched partly on the stack of pillows that helped her sit up, but he could still see the amusement in her face.

“Well…we… we’d been living together for a while, him, me, and Lily, in an apartment off campus. It was our final year at college, Lily had already graduated but was still living at the apartment, so she witnessed most of what she refers to as our ‘Useless Pining Idiot’ phase, not to be confused with our ‘Fucking Asshole Idiots’ phase which she reserves for when we left, which I’ll get to some other time. “ Emily laughed and Jack gave her a small smile. “ Anyway, it kind of felt like a now or never situation, even though we’d all agreed to rent a new apartment together, far away from campus, so we’d see each other. But…” Jack felt his ears warm up and he was glad it was a bit dark in the room. “I don’t know, maybe I was scared that once we left college he’d meet someone else and I would lose my chance. Looking back, it was kind of obvious he had feelings for me too, but at the time I think I dismissed them either as wishful thinking or him just being odd.” Emily rolled her eyes and Jack laughed. “I know, I know. We sound like a couple of high school kids.”

“It’s cute.” Emily commented, shifting a bit so she was closer. “He hasn’t ever talked that much about his life before King Falls beyond a couple of things from when he was in high school, how you guys met, and…your disappearance.” Emily pursed her lips and looked thoughtful, wondering if she should mention what she wanted to mention next. “Ben talks about his childhood and his time in college, but one thing he doesn’t like to talk about is the time when I was gone. I got him to talk about a few things, but not a lot. I kind of want to know…mostly because I can’t really remember anything from when I was gone. I remember feelings, fear and stuff, but nothing visual. I understand why, sometimes people just don’t like to talk about things and it’s good to honor their wishes, but I don’t know if I’ll ever stop wondering.” She paused. “I don’t know where I was going with this. I guess it’s to say that you can share as much as you want or not, I don’t want to pressure you.”

“It’s fine, I like talking about me and Sammy in college, it’s funny and embarrassing. But I appreciate it, really. Everyone’s been great but I almost feel obligated to talk. Not to say anyone has been pressuring me but it’s so…strange. Here are all these people who care so much about me and I don’t know them, or I barely know them. And when I learned that I had been gone for nearly four years? It was…bizarre. And I know Sammy feels like he failed me, like he gave up, but didn’t, not in my eyes. He got me back, it just took a bit longer. And I would have rather he failed then…then do what he tried to do at the Gate. God…I could see him, I could see him at the entrance and I just… my heart…or whatever it was in there, just stopped. I wanted to scream at him not to but I couldn’t. Not that it mattered, he got rejected because I was in there anyway, and I think… I think the Shadowmaker was afraid that if he was there too we’d break out more easily? Either way… when I saw him… a part of me was so excited and the other part was filled with dread because not him. No. I wasn’t going to let that evil bastard take him too. Not the love of my life, not my fiancé, not my Sammy…” Jack had a distant look in his eyes, and Emily began to worry he was having another absence, which would occasionally lead to a seizure. She started to get up when he blinked, looked at her, and blushed. “Sorry. I’m fine, don’t worry. I just…”

“I know. Trust me.” Emily reached over and across the corner between them and patted at his feet, which were under a blanket. “So, you were afraid he’d meet someone else?” Emily prompted, leaning back, the smile back on her face.

“Yeah, I mean…Sammy wasn’t really much for going up to people and asking them out. He wasn’t big on that stuff then, nor now, obviously. But there was just this nagging feeling in the back of my brain that told me to go for it, what did I have to lose? But the other part of my brain was like ‘Your best friend, that’s what.’, because what if it made things awkward between us you know? My sister was ready to lock us in a room by the end of the month that was my trying to work up the courage to say something. Finally, near the end of the month, Lily was about to leave to go on a weekend trip somewhere, and I thought ‘This is perfect, she’ll be gone for the weekend. If we have a date, I won’t have to deal with her teasing me or making lewd jokes. If he says no, I can wallow in self-pity without her trying to get me to get up.’. Me and Sammy are sitting on the couch in the apartment, and I finally gather myself up and ask him if he’d like to go to this new Creole restaurant that had opened up near our place for dinner that night. Lily was leaving that day, in fact she was practically out the door when I said this. I heard her pause her packing and hoped Sammy couldn’t tell. It was a fancier restaurant, where sides were like, $16, $20 a plate, entrees were $36. It would be a strain on the wallet a bit but…god, I feel like such a teenager even repeating this, I wanted to be impressive, even though the guy I was trying to impress was someone I’d known for over three years. He commented as much, it was a bit expensive for our usual Friday night dinners wasn’t it? And…he asked if we were meeting people from our friend group or not and…god.” Jack was sure his face was red enough that Emily could see it, even in the dimmer lighting.

“Oh noooo. He thought you meant…”

“As just another night on the town with friends, yeah. I could hear Lily drop something in the other room, loudly. I said I knew it was expensive, and no, we weren’t going to meet anyone else there. And…I swear I could see a bit of a blush creep into his face, because I think a part of him was starting to get it but he wasn’t…letting himself believe it, you know? Which is…ridiculous. Sammy is a very attractive guy. He can be a bit odd, but he’s charming, and people tend to like him. I just think that he underestimates himself. Anyway, I said we wouldn’t be meeting anyone, it would be just the two of us…at a restaurant with mood lighting at night. And I heard Lily scrambling to pack, and finally she bursts out of her room, down the hall, powerwalking and goes by us saying ‘Alright, I’m out. You two kids have fun this weekend. Remember to practice safe…’ and that was when I threw a pillow from the sofa at her face.” This earned another laugh from Emily. “By then both me and Sammy were bright red, and Lily was practically cackling as she left through the front door. I jumped up from the couch and said something like ‘Well that went great. If you’ll excuse me, I’m just gonna go throw myself off the building in embarrassment.’ And as I was heading to the door…I wasn’t going to throw myself off a building, I was going to go to a nearby pub and try to forget what an ass I just made of myself, I heard Sammy say ‘Door to the top of the building is locked. Hell of a story to tell people later on when they ask about our first date.’ And I felt myself just…this weird warmth spread throughout my body and I didn’t turn around but I could…I could feel him standing behind me. And he said my name, and I turned around, and…” Jack’s blush was still very prominent, and Emily was delighted to see this side of him. Embarrassed, but happy, reliving a good memory. “I saw this big grin on his face before he took the arm closer to him and pulled me close, and my heart was beating so fast, I was blushing, he pulled me closer to him, leaned in… and then whispered in my ear ‘Last one to the car makes breakfast tomorrow.’ And then _took off_ out the door and down the hall, cackling the entire way. I blinked and then grabbed my wallet and keys, and left after him, the little shit.” Emily was in the middle of a full on laughing fit when he finished the story, clearly wildly enjoying this new information about one of her closest friends. Her ‘dad’ friend none the less.

“So did you lose the race and have to make breakfast the next morning?” Jack got a shit eating grin on his face that told her there might not have been a breakfast the next morning.

“Ah…you know, the next morning we sort of decided to go out to eat. For lunch.” The grin was still there in full, and Emily raised an eyebrow at his statement, a smile of her own on her face. “What? We were…busy. We had a lot of lost time to make up for.” Emily rolled her eyes and then looked at the clock. It was nearing 3 am, and they had originally decided it wasn’t a radio night, but something about Jack’s story made her want to hear Ben’s voice. “In fact…” Jack commented, picking up his phone and eyeing the date. “…well, what do you know, it’s our anniversary. Time kind of…got away from me for so long I forgot…” he looked over at Emily, who had gotten up from her spot on the other couch, and was walking over to the bar stool seating by the kitchen, where the radio was perched on the bar itself.

“I…I know we agreed that it wouldn’t be a radio night, but your story made me feel all sappy and lovey dovey and…” Jack laughed and shook his head, but his expression wasn’t one of annoyance.

“Go ahead. I kind of want to hear Sammy’s voice right now too.” Emily smiled and took the battery powered radio from it’s perch, setting it on the coffee table, and twisting the knob, the first voice she heard was Ben’s, in the middle of some loud exclamation, and then the sound of Sammy laughing. The topic, Dr. Rosenblum coming into the station for an interview, went on for another ten minutes before they wrapped up that segment, and the odd doctor left. Jack and Emily settled back down on their respective couches, and eventually fell asleep to the antics of their crazy significant others. Around 5:55 am, Jack woke up to a loud sound, what he would later learn was Ben hitting a wall that had a bee on it with a broom in the station, and Sammy’s exasperated voice telling Ben to open the damn doors and let the bee fly out on its own. Before they signed off, Jack heard Sammy’s voice get softer, and that made him pause from getting up to go to the bathroom.

“And, as we wrap things up for the night, I’d like to wish the love of my life, my fiancé Jack, Happy Anniversary. I don’t know if you’re awake right now babe, but if you are, I love you and I have the night off tonight. We’ll cook Creole food like usual, and spend the night in yeah? See you soon.” Jack smiled, and as he walked down the hall he could hear Ben say something about having to go to the dentist’s office for cavities, then the sound of Ben yelping, and Jack couldn’t feel any more at home at that moment if he tried.


	5. Whiskey, Spiders, and Kittens, Oh My!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is drunk, and it's "What Is Your Most Embarrassing Sammy Story?" night at the Stevens-Wright household, much to Sammy's chagrin.

* * *

 

Sammy was beginning to wonder if he would be able to survive this night with some dignity left, but at the rate the love of his life and his love’s sister were going, he doubted it.

It had been a month since Jack’s return, they were two weeks away from the wedding, and the two of them had decided to move to a house just two houses down from Emily’s. Because Jack was still recovering and not feeling comfortable around too many people, they had just Emily, Ben, and Lily over for a house warming dinner, and Sammy was starting to regret opening the bottle of whiskey Herschel had given him last year for his birthday.

Emily was trying to hide her laughter behind her hands, but her body was visibly shaking. Ben was leaning in towards Jack and Lily, eyes shining with mischief, laughing, sitting on one couch next to Emily. Lily was leaning towards him as well across the small coffee table in the living room they were seated around, a glass with whiskey cradled in her hands, trying not to fall out of the plush chair she’d called dibs on. Jack, who was sitting on the other couch next to Sammy, was flung back against the backing of the couch, laughing so hard tears were coming from his eyes, whiskey glass in one hand, the other resting where Sammy’s shoulders had been before he leaned forward and covered his face with his hands. Sammy slid a few fingers open and turned to look at him, and felt his heart melting. He looked happy, the happiest he’d been in ages, and Sammy decided he would gladly endure a hundred nights of this to keep that happiness on Jack’s face. Sammy laid back on the couch, smiling when he felt Jack’s arm, which had been resting on the couch itself, push across and bring Sammy closer to him. Sammy turned his head sideways to look at Jack, and felt a flutter when he saw that Jack was already looking at him, a shit eating grin on his warm-from-the-alcohol face.

“You’re my fiancé, how many of these embarrassing stories could you possibly have that you’d be willing to tell?” Sammy enquired of the man sitting next to him. Jack laughed again, and leaned closer to him, an even more mischievous look in his eyes.

“I’m your fiancé, I have ALL the embarrassing stories to tell these people.” Jack replied honestly.

“And I have even more stories to tell. Gladly. Willingly. Someone pour me more whiskey.” Lily added, holding her glass out. Emily, giggling, took the bottle from the table and poured the amber liquid into the glass.

“We tease because we love you.” Jack said, Sammy guessed, as a way to try to placate the clearly embarrassed man. Sammy rolled his eyes, but he was grinning, and Jack knew he was amused. He leaned forward and closed the gap between them, kissing Sammy lightly, before returning to his attention to the rest of the room, and leaving Sammy blushing.

“Well I don’t love you _that_ much.” Lily cut in. “Please don’t start a make-out session on the couch. I saw enough of that when we lived together.” Sammy and Jack both groaned this time.

“Touchy feely couple, were they?” Emily enquired, her expression a cross of affection and amusement.

“Not in public but at home, god yes.” Lily replied, leaning towards the librarian once again. “I swear to god, I’d come home from something and they’d either be making out on the couch or getting at it in their room…and they were not quiet.”

“Lily!” Jack’s face was bright red now, which just made Ben and Emily laugh more. Sammy’s face was back behind his hands and both wished the couch would swallow them whole. “I doubt Ben and Emily want to hear about mine and Sammy’s love life…”

“I walked in on them doing a role-play once.” Lily continued, clearly thrilled by the turn of events. “They’d gone out earlier to some bar where no one knew them. I went out to dinner with some friends. I came back and they were in the middle of…”

“Hey, you guys want to hear the story about how Sammy got trapped in a bathroom at school by a harmless Daddy Long Leg Spider?” Jack intervened. Lily laughed so loud Sammy could swear the table shook, and both Ben and Emily nodded.

“Okay, so one day I am walking across campus, this is like, our Junior year, we were 22 I think, and my phone starts to ring. I pick it up and Sammy immediately screams into the phone ‘I’m trapped in the second-floor bathroom of the campus studio bathroom! You have to save me!’ and I, of course, panic. What was going on? Was there a shooter? A fire? Did some psycho release a wild animal in the building? I ran as fast as I could to the studio, run up the stairs to the second floor, down the hall, fuck my own safety, by then I was already madly in love with Sammy even though we didn’t get together for another year, and I turn the corner and see…a spider in the hallway sort of in front of the door…”

“I hate you.” Sammy mumbles from under his hands. Jack grins, gives him a peck on the cheek, and then returns to his story.

“No you don’t. Anyway, I see the spider and just…sigh, loudly. I knew exactly what was happening and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to slap Sammy or kiss him…”

“Or both.” Lily offered. Jack nodded.

“Or both. Both would have worked. I knock on the door and tell him to get his ass outside, the spider was harmless. He replies, and literally squeaks, asking if the spider is gone. I picked it up, went to a window, and put it on a tree branch outside. I returned to the door, and then…promptly pretended I was being attacked by one of the most harmless creatures on the planet. Because I’m an asshole.” Emily was laughing, and Sammy found it hard to stay annoyed. Emily and Jack both had infectious laughs.

“What did Sammy do?” Emily asked, loving hearing these stories about her friend.

“To his credit,” Jack nodded towards Sammy “he burst out of the bathroom, a toilet paper roll in hand, I guess as ammo, and the look on his face when he saw it was just me, standing in the middle of the hallway, smirking, was priceless. I wish I’d taken a photo.” Lily, Ben, Emily, and Jack all laughed, and Sammy had to hide his face again, this time to hide the smile he had. He’d be damned if he let them know he was finding this all funny as well. “This happened many times, usually around the same type of harmless spiders. I remember it happened right after Sammy proposed to me. It was like the universe wanted to keep him on his toes.”

“One time,” Lily had set the whiskey glass down and scooted her butt to the edge of her seat, leaning forward for effect, “like, not too long before these two idiots got together, Sammy here made a massive ass of himself when we were at the apartment. Jack had this yoga phase his senior year of college that was just _torture_ for Sammy. Absolute torture. It was fucking hilarious. So it’s Saturday morning, Jack is in the living room with his mat, doing yoga. Sammy and I are in the kitchen at a table, eating breakfast. Except I was actually eating breakfast, and Sammy here was staring at Jack’s ass in the living room, looking like the only thing he hungered for was _him_.” Lily nodded towards Jack, who was blushing himself this time. “He was half eating, and he put this bagel piece in his mouth, going to chew, and Jack must have done some yoga move that was particularly pleasing to Sammy because all of a sudden Sammy is _choking on the bagel piece_. Like, legit choking. I was worried he was actually going to die. Jack springs up from the mat and runs over right as I’m about to do the Heimlich maneuver, rushes behind the chair before I can fully get my arms around Sammy, and does it himself. The bagel piece _flies_ out of Sammy’s mouth and right into my fucking coffee mug. I just looked at my mug, glared at Sammy, got up, and dumped my coffee into the sink. Sammy coughed a few times, looked properly embarrassed, and practically flew out of the kitchen and into his room. Jack was confused and I told him he owed me another coffee, as it now was his turn to make another pot. And he had to make it with this fancy shit he got imported from Costa Rica. Jack was worried that Sammy had some sort of esophagus problem for two months after.”

“Sammy choked because he was staring at Jack’s ass?” Ben was having way too much fun with this, and Sammy began to wrack his brain for stories he could tell about his curly haired best friend. This was not fair. This was the sixth story of the night. When Lily nodded, her expression similar to a smug cat, Sammy knew his revenge wouldn’t be coming anytime soon. Sammy leaned forward, grabbed the bottle, and poured himself a generous helping, before leaning back into the couch. “This is gold.”

“If you put any of these stories on the station Twitter I am lighting all of your hoodies on fire and putting them to sail at Lake Hatchenhaw, I swear to God…” Sammy warned, shaking his head. Jack laughed next to him and scooted closer toward his fiancé. Ben started to say something but Sammy held up a finger. “Or if you share any of these at the wedding reception during your best-man speech. All of the hoodies. Gone. All gone. Up in flames.”

 “Spoil sport.” Ben muttered, sticking his tongue out. “What was it you said that one time about Sammy and cats?” Ben asked Lily, smirking. God, Sammy wanted to just be absorbed by the couch. Lily shrieked with laughter and readjusted herself in the chair, getting ready to tell a long story.

“Okay, so we were at a friend’s house and their cat had just had kittens…” As Lily started the story that ended with a photo being taken of Sammy in a bonnet, holding three kittens and looking over the moon, Sammy felt a tug on his shirt. He looked to his left and saw Jack looking at him, a soft, loving smile on his mouth. It was Sammy who leaned in this time for the kiss, with Jack meeting him part of the way there, and for the first time in years, Sammy felt at peace.


	6. You're The One That I Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack was NOT pining. 
> 
> He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Sammy, but he was NOT pining.
> 
> Really.

* * *

 

Jack was _not_ pining. He was not. He was just attracted to his best friend, it happened right? You spend enough time with a person and sometimes you just…you know.

They had almost kissed, once, when they were very drunk and at a party, playing some stupid truth or dare game with equally drunk people. Someone came into the room and shouted that the cops were there, run, as someone had brought weed to the party and they bolted. While he was absurdly drunk, he could remember how fast his heart was beating with Sammy that close, could remember that annoying voice in the back of his head saying ‘Well finally.’ .

Sammy didn’t say anything so he didn’t either. But things had changed after. Sammy had always been kind of flirty with him, and Jack had been flirty right back. But in the way that friends jokingly flirted with each other when they were at ease with one another. But then after it felt…less platonic. Of course, it could have just been wishful thinking on Jack’s part but he could have sworn Sammy had been a little more touchy-feely with him, a little more suggestive…

He was _not_ pining.

He was currently leaning against the wall on the porch of the small house he, Lily, and Sammy were renting after college in a smaller, safe neighborhood in the outskirts of Los Angles county. It was around 11 o’clock at night, and he had been out there for half an hour, sneaking a cigarette, something both Lily and Sammy, both previous smokers out of stress, had forbid in the house. He had quit too, but he was…a bit stressed. Sammy was on a date. He had been gone for a couple of hours now, and Jack was most definitely not waiting out on the porch for him to return and see if he brought the guy home. He was not. He was just…enjoying the night. Making sure his friend got home…yeah.

He was not hoping Sammy would come home, early, alone, really. He wasn’t.

He could feel his cheeks heating up and cursed under his breath. He felt pathetic, like a high schooler in the throws of teenage hormones with their first serious crush.

He had thought long and hard about all of their futures, what would happen, where they would end up, and in each scenario, Sammy was with him. Not always _with_ him, but around, and Jack knew it meant something that the man was always around him, not one potential future excluded Sammy Stevens.

He didn’t want to admit how many of these scenarios that he imagined had him and Sammy together, building a life together, a house, a dog, getting married, living their lives as a couple…

He was not pining.

He hadn’t heard Lily open and close the front door, but before he knew it, there was a mug of coffee in front of his face, and his sister’s amused and exasperated expression, one she usually reserved for him and Sammy and, to quote her ‘their uselessness’ as she referred to their apparent mutual pining.

He was not pining, really.

“You waiting up for Sammy?” Lily asked once he took the mug in his hands, not bothering to hide the cigarette, which she eyed with disdain.

“No.” Jack replied, cringing when he realized he replied a _little bit_ too fast. “It’s just a nice night out.”

“It’s raining.” Lily commented, and Jack looked off the porch, slightly surprised. It was raining, and he was trying not to think about how metaphorical it felt.

“Yeah well, it’s California, we need the rain.” Lily paused, eyed him suspiciously and then shrugged. He had a point and she knew it. “He hasn’t been gone that long.”

“I know.”

“He’s an adult.”

“I know Lily.”

“He only went because the guy would not let up, and he didn’t want him constantly e-mailing him.” Jack raised an eyebrow at her and she laughed. “You should have seen his inbox, there were like, 20 emails from this week alone.” Jack took another drag from his cigarette, and then a sip of the coffee, and continued to watch the rain, hating how much he felt like they were in a cheesy teenage romance. “You know he has feelings for you right? When he left for this he asked where you were and I lied and said I didn’t know. He looked hurt. I think he was hoping you’d stop him.” Jack laughed again, a part of him thinking she was joking, the heat rising in his cheeks again. He hated that his breath caught in his throat and he tried not to feel the bloom of hope in his chest.

“Like you said, he’s an adult. He…he can do whatever he wants.” Lily sighed heavily and pushed herself off the wall from where she’d been leaning next to him. She gave him one more look, and her expression changed, it softened for a second, before going back to the frustrated one she had before.

“What Sammy wants to do…” Lily began, swiping the cigarette from his hand and putting it out by holding it over the railing in the rain, before turning back towards him, smiling. “…is one Jack Wright.” Lily ran back into the house, cackling, as Jack lunged to swat her. Jack muttered curses at her and took another cigarette out of the pack in his jacket, leaning back against the wall and lighting it. After a few minutes he saw the lights from Sammy’s car turn onto the street, and then the car itself turn onto the property and into the garage. Jack fought the surge of excitement in his stomach when he saw that the passenger’s front seat was empty. He heard the garage door close, and Sammy was walking up the stairs to the porch in no time. Jack hid the cigarette behind him just a second too late, and Sammy’s raised eyebrows and amused expression told him as much.

“How was the date?” Jack asked, trying to sound calm and collected when in reality, his heart was beating a bit faster. He looked _good_ , and Jack was praying that the light from the street lights could not show the blush on his face. Scruffy hair, long enough to look wild and stick up a bit when he would stumble into the kitchen in the morning, brown eyes, and a smile that had made Jack feel weak in the knees more than one time. He went for a casual look, but decided on his leather jacket because his usual one was in the laundry. The expression ‘jump your bones’ flashed in Jack’s brain and he had to stop the small groan that was forming in his throat.

“Eh, he was boring.” Sammy replied, shrugging, leaning against the banister of the porch, directly across from Jack. “For all his …oddness and persistence he was dull as a brick and only talked about himself like, the _entire_ time.”  Sammy stole the coffee mug from Jack’s hands, took a sip, and then decidedly did not give it back. Jack continued to lean against the wall, the lit cigarette still behind him in one of his hands. He’d have to put it out soon but couldn’t do it with Sammy there, even though he knew Sammy had seen it already. It was the principle of the matter.

“That’s too bad.” Jack commented, trying not to sound too excited that the date had been a bust, but he had a feeling it showed.

“Yeah well, I wasn’t a great conversationalist either. I forgot his name at one point while we were at the bar. It was a bit embarrassing.” Sammy and Jack both chuckled and Jack rolled his eyes.

“For a man who claims to be great with names and shit like that, you have a tendency to forget a lot of people’s names, unless you write them down.” Sammy laughed and moved closer, setting the mug on the table next to Jack.

“Yeah well, I remember them if they are important.” Sammy replied, and Jack couldn’t help but notice he was very close to him and not moving. “ I remembered you and Lily right away.” Jack sucked in a breath before he could stop himself, and Sammy moved a bit closer. Inches away, Jack could just lean forward a bit and…

“You saw us all the time.”

“Yeah, because I wanted to.” Sammy countered. He looked to the side, at the hand Jack had the cigarette in behind him, and there was the eyebrow raise again. “Smoking again? I thought we had all quit.”

“I…uh…I wasn’t smoking.” Jack leaned forward a bit, edging his right hand, the one with the now slightly painful cigarette butt in between his fingers. “Your eyesight’s failing you in your old age Stevens.” Sammy rolled his eyes, and Jack took that moment to put out the cigarette in the coffee mug that now rested there.

“You’re older than me by six months Jack.”

“Well, you know, some people lose it young.” Jack laughed and then felt the butterflies in his stomach flutter when Sammy stepped closer, almost closing the distance between them, reaching behind Jack’s back on both sides. “What are you doin’ there Sammy?”

“Let me see your hands.” Jack could feel the warmth from his body and smell the whiskey and coca-cola on Sammy’s breath. He could also hear Sammy’s breathing, a bit faster than normal, and heard him swallow, hard. Holy shit this was actually happening.

“You’re being childish. I wasn’t smoking.” Jack replied, holding out his now empty hands in front of his face. Sammy made a ‘hmm’ noise, and Jack squirmed a bit, blood rushing down to a certain area that would be difficult to hide if he was wrong about what was happening. But it would be a bit difficult to be wrong about this, wouldn’t it?

“Well, there are other ways to prove you were smoking.” Sammy commented, and Jack could hear the gravely sound in his voice, the change was there. He’d heard it before, at night, when Sammy thought Jack was asleep and decided to … do things in the dark. Their rooms were right next to each other and the walls were thin.

Before Jack could say some smartass comment to him, Sammy closed the distance between them and kissed Jack, hard. Jack grabbed the hems of Sammy’s unzipped jacket, pulling his body closer, and felt one of Sammy’s hands in his hair. Jack moaned into Sammy’s mouth as their bodies pressed closer, and the moan turned into a groan when Sammy pulled away, too fast in Jack’s opinion. Sammy’s eyes had glazed over, the dim light from the street bouncing off a window and into his eyes. Jack was still holding onto his jacket, and Sammy, grabbing the collar of Jack’s hoodie, gently, with one hand, and the mug from the table in the other, he nodded towards the door.

“Come on, how about we make it difficult for Lily to sleep tonight?” Sammy offered, a shit eating grin that Jack could and would wipe off his face on his lips. Jack nodded, and as they went back inside, Jack couldn’t help but ask something.

“You said you forgot his name during the…”

“I called him Jack.” Sammy cut him off, shutting and locking the door before turning back to face Jack. “He was trying to be cordial, and I called him Jack. That’s when the date ended and I came home.” He backed Jack up to a wall in the hallway, his fingers playing with the hem of his hoodie. “A gift from my subconscious telling me to go home to who I really wanted.” Jack nodded and pulled Sammy in for another kiss.

The next morning, the two of them woke to a note on Jack’s night stand saying:

_While I am glad you useless idiots figured shit out, you now owe me a set of earplugs._

They laughed.


	7. Mission Possible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the station being rebuilt and things going...well, well for once, Ben was...bored. Not unhappy, just bored, and Emily was going to change that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the request of my friend Maria, (after my asking for a prompt) this one shot, inspired by a wonderful drawing by Tumblr user Appsa of Ben and Emily hard at work doing research, came to be. :) Three more cheers for Bemily!

* * *

 

Emily knew Ben was bored. No amount of volunteer time at the library or dates or time out at Lake Hatchenhaw could get him out of his funk. He was bored because he wasn’t doing the show, because he had no project to research, because at his core Ben was a researcher, and without something to research his brain was…fizzling.

That wasn’t to say that he wasn’t happy, because he was. Or at least she assumed he was. He’d helped bring Jack, Debbie, and several others back from the Void and close the gate, at least for now. He’d been Troy’s campaign manager during his run for sheriff, and Emily firmly believed that _Sheriff_ Troy Krieghauser was happy with his friend’s services. When she asks Jack about it one morning during one of their Friend Dates at Rose’s, they’d taken too each other quickly, Jack got a thoughtful look on his face and then grinned.

“Sammy always says I go nuts without a research project. Not so much anymore…but I wouldn’t suggest going down my route to cure his restlessness.” Jack smiled . “Sorry. Dark humor, it’s how I cope. One time Sammy and Lily had this huge topic that they were going to do over multiple episodes and I was bored and restless and without a project. Sammy ‘asked’ for my help on it, even though Sammy is actually a more than capable researcher by himself. It helped. Is there any research topic you’ve been meaning to do that he could help on?” Emily pursed her lips and thought for a minute, and then grinned.

“I have just the thing.” Emily replied, picking up her coffee cup and taking a sip, her grin so wide Jack could see the edges of her lips behind the cup.

Emily’s guest room door was usually closed when visitors came to her house. It wasn’t that she never had guests stay over, Sammy had stayed with her for a bit after he was outed, and then a bit after Jack came back, not wanting to go back to his apartment so soon. It’s just that…well she had a project set up in there. Lily knew about it, so did Agent Spears, Sammy and Jack knew too because of their stay in the room. Ben never questioned it, he never really had a reason to. Before, when he was at Emily’s it was her own space, and while they were close before he knew his boundaries. If he slept over before he usually conked out in the couch, now he sleeps in Emily’s room, obviously. But he had been slightly curious. She never told him not to open the door, but it’s constant state of being closed made him wonder.

“So, I have a research project going on right now, and I was hoping you would be willing to help me with it.” Emily commented, putting a kettle on the stove and getting their mugs out. Ben paused from where he was in her pantry, looking for the apple cinnamon tea bags and popcorn she’d asked him to find. Okay, something was for sure up.

“Oh really, and which one is that?”

Emily turned around, a smile on her face and walked over to where he was leaning against the door jamb to the pantry, slipping her arms around his waist and pulling him closer to her. She caught the little sharp intake of breath and could swear his heart beat faster, or maybe she was just projecting. The relationship still felt new, only a few months of them being officially together, even though they were teased by many as having been together for years and just not admitting it. She loved Ben, she well and truly loved him, and she already knew, as cliché as it sounded, that she wanted to be with him forever. Whether that meant marriage or not, she didn’t really care, as long as it was the two of them until the end. She resisted rolling her eyes at herself, she sounded like a cliché, but she knew what she knew. She thought he was cute that first night when she went to the studio to be interviewed. Not to say Sammy wasn’t and still is attractive, because he is, but there was something about him that told her he was hands off. She was always good with this sort of thing and she knew his heart was already with someone else. Not that it mattered in the end. She had been grateful for the dimness of the hallway leading to the recording studio. Sammy had greeted her at the door and had her waiting in their office, but he had sent Ben to get her when it was time for her to come into the booth and she felt a blush creep into her cheeks when he poked his head in and told her it was time. She would like to think that the little start he gave was his reaction, a good one, to her, and it probably was.

Now, here they were nearly four years later…

“The Himinists.” She replied, realizing she’d gone a couple of minutes without saying anything, although she didn’t see Ben complaining about the closeness and silence. She laughed when he made a face and gave his lower back a pat. “I know, I know, but we don’t know everything just yet and who knows how many of them are around. If we’re ever going to get Grisham out of office we’ll need more as well.”

“True.” Ben nodded, pulling her a bit closer. It was getting colder in King Falls and her house was chilly and she was warm, or that’s what he was using as an excuse. “Why now though?”

“Why not? We have Jack back, the scandal involving the Science Institute is still in full swing, and Troy is now Sheriff. The good guys are on a roll.” Ben laughed and Emily grinned, satisfied with his reaction. She gave him a quick kiss before wiggling out of his grasp, as the kettle was now yelling at her to come and take it off the stove. “Popcorn. Apple cinnamon tea.” Emily reminded him. Ben rolled his eyes, but the grin on his face wasn’t going to go away any time soon.

Armed with a tray that contained a bowl of popcorn, a smaller tea kettle with tea, Ben’s King Falls AM mug and a mug Sammy had bought Emily for her birthday last year (“Don’t drop that tray Ben, that’s my favorite mug and I know where you sleep at night.”), Ben followed her down the hall, and was surprised when she stopped at the door to the guest room, opening the door and nodding towards the open room, smiling.

Ben was surprised by what he saw, but not surprised enough to drop the tray thankfully. Setting it gently on a desk in the room, he looked at the wall behind the bed and saw a big corkboard filled with photos, newspaper clippings, copies of pages from books and old photo albums, notes in Emily’s hand writing, and two others that must have been Lily and Agent Spears’. There was string connecting points and a huge map of the entire area, with certain spots on the map marked with blue and yellow pins, some with smaller notes attached. It was…intricate.

“So this is what hides behind door number two.” Ben muttered, leaning against the bed to get a closer look. Emily laughed, leaving the room and then coming back with her laptop. “This is one hell of a research project.” Emily shrugged, picking up her mug from the tray and pouring tea into it, then doing the same for Ben’s before handing him his tea and turning around.

“I want to get to the bottom of this. Whoever these people think they are, they need to be stopped for good. I know it won’t get rid of the problem entirely but…”

“It’ll help?”

“It’ll help.” Emily repeated, nodding at Ben in agreement. “Somehow. And who knows, maybe if we can find enough out we can give Agents Spears more to go on…”

“It would be nice to see Grisham hauled away in handcuffs…” Ben relented, picking up a book of King Falls lore on the bed. Emily handed him a college rule notebook, pencils, and a pen, nodded at the book and then make a sweeping gesture of the room.

“Pick a place to plop yourself down and let’s get to it shall we?” Emily was smiling, happy to have found something for him to do.

Two hours later they were both on the bed, notes and books strewn everywhere, deep in concentration. Emily, taking a moment to relieve her eyes from her laptop screen, rubbed her eyes with the back of one of her hands, blinked, and then looked over her shoulder at the man who was acting as a back rest. He was deep in concentration, scribbling notes on the notepad next to him, nearly having filled the sheets, and she could tell that for the first time in over a month, Ben Arnold was not bored.

Mission achieved.


	8. Ten Years From Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One summer day in 2009, Jack asked Sammy where he saw himself in ten years. 
> 
> Ten years later, during the summer of 2019, they took their first steps towards those ideas.

* * *

 

_June 5 th, 2009, Los Angeles, California_

“So, where do you see yourself in ten years?” Jack had asked the question after a ten-minute-long silence between him and Sammy while they were hanging out in the back yard of the Wright’s family home. They were all there visiting Jack and Lily’s aunt and uncle, who had raised them, and Lily was currently out with said aunt and uncle to a play. Jack and Sammy had decided to stay at home and hang out at the pool, having just finished editing a rather long episode of Wright On for an anniversary episode. Lily had given Jack a wagging eyebrow look as she left the house that earned her a double middle finger from her younger brother. Sammy lifted his sunglasses and turned his head to look at him, a questioning eyebrow on his face. “Like, do you want to stay here in Los Angeles? Do you want to stay with Wright On? Do you want to do something else with your degree? Where do you want to be and be doing in ten years?”

“There’s a dirty joke in there somewhere.” Sammy commented, smirking. Jack rolled his eyes and threw a pool ball at his head.

“Come on, take this seriously. I’m curious.” Jack didn’t want to say he was curious as to whether or not he played a key role in this answer, but he was hoping. They’d been together for a couple of years now, and while they were comfortable in their relationship, they lived together after all, they’d been bad with going anywhere past the occasional ‘Hey, I love you---r face.’. He believed Sammy loved him, and he knew he loved Sammy, he was fairly certain this was a long-haul relationship but…

They’d never talked about the future really. They never discussed buying a house and settling down, maybe getting a dog, living in a different state… or getting married one day. He knew that they didn’t need a marriage license to prove anything, or necessarily settle down but Jack would be lying if he said he never thought about them getting married, moving somewhere quiet, maybe starting a family, even if it was just them and a bunch of dogs.

“I don’t know.” Sammy began, turning his head back towards the sky, sunglasses back in place. “I mean I’d like to live somewhere else someday. I like California but I wouldn’t mind a change. Maybe somewhere with more weather selections.” Jack laughed and Sammy chuckled. “Ten years from now though? I don’t know. We’ll be what, 37? It would be nice to have our own show some day. I love Lily but it’d be fun to be the star, and I’d like to do more of my own content. I’d like to keep doing radio though, I like it a lot.” Jack nodded, trying to quell the butterflies in his stomach at the ‘we’ and ‘our’ in his comments. So he did see them still together in ten years then. “How about you?”

“Well, financial stability for one.” Jack began, and it was Sammy’s turn to laugh at a comment this time. “Be happy in what I was doing as a career. We can’t stay on Wright On forever, as much as I love Lily as well, I want to work on my own stuff someday. I’d like to have a dog someday, I always wanted a dog and my aunt is allergic. I’d like to travel someday, even if it’s just within the country. There’s a lot to see out there. I’d like a nice, calm life with the occasional adventure. Nothing too crazy. And a house, I’d like to have a cozy little house. We don’t need much. Maybe two bedrooms, the extra being a guest room for Lily or my aunt and uncle. Somewhere quiet, either in the mountains or in a quiet suburb of a bigger place. A place with a yard for the dog, maybe a garden where we can plant vegetables and flowers. Oh! A living room with a fire place, that would be nice. Plenty of natural light. Two bedrooms should be enough unless…” Jack felt his face heating up when he realized he’d trailed off and went into way more detail than he intended and had pretty much implied that he wanted kids someday. He looked over at Sammy to find him already looking at him, a fond, loving smile on his face. Sammy sat up on the chair he had laid out on, got up, walked over to him, leaned down, and kissed him, still grinning. “I kind of got a bit ahead of myself, didn’t I?” Jack asked, blushing. Sammy sat on the side of his chair, facing him, and shook his head.

“Nah.” Sammy replied. “I like it, I like your dreams, they sound nice. You, me, a dog, a house with a yard, and maybe some mini human running around looking like one of us.” Jack wondered if ten years from now they’d still have the ability to make each other feel breathless. He sure hoped so. He took one of Sammy’s hands in his and kissed it, seeing a blush creep into Sammy’s cheeks and smiling.

“It’s a plan Stevens.”

_June 5 th, 2019, King Falls, Pennsylvania_

“So, why does Emily need our help with her neighbor’s place? I didn’t think she lived in a dangerous neighborhood or anything.” Jack asked, stretching a bit in the passenger seat of Sammy’s 4-Runner. It was early on a Saturday morning, and he and Sammy had the weekend off from the radio station. He had been hoping to catch up on sleep, but Sammy had woke him up early with a cup of coffee and a ‘Get up, Emily needs us to check her neighbor’s house who is out of town.’ .

“She does.” Sammy replied, turning left on Johnson Street, then right on Sycamore. “ It’s just that there’s this project she has at the library going on and she kind of fell asleep there last night and texted me, panicked, because she was supposed to check it last night.”

“And we had to go before sunset?” Jack asked, slightly annoyed. “Surely it’s all good.” Sammy shrugged, coming up to the middle of the street, on a slight hill, and turning into the drive way of a nice little home within a rock’s throw of Emily’s house. It was a cozy two story brick house with a chimney and a nice front lawn and a fenced yard in the back. Jack had always liked the way the house looked when they’d go past to visit Emily. He sleepily got out of the car, and looked puzzled when he saw Sammy grab something from the back seat. “Come on Sammy, I want to do this check and get back to bed.” He knew he was being grouchy but it was almost 6:30 am and he was tired. Sammy nodded and walked up the walkway, nodding for Jack to follow, before unlocking the door. When he opened the front door, Jack was startled. There wasn’t much furniture in the house, beyond bare minimum basics. The walls had few things on them, and it had a distinctly empty feeling to it. “Oh no, they were robbed!” Jack exclaimed.

“No, they weren’t. The neighbors moved across town. The house has been on sale for a couple of months.” Sammy replied matter-of-factly. Jack turned around and realized that it did indeed look like a house in the middle of being sold. Looking outside the front windows he also noticed the ‘For Sale’ sign up at the front of the lawn. He also noticed a SOLD sticker slapped across the middle of it.

“So, what, the neighbors asked Emily to make sure no one broke in until the new buyers arrived? The sign out there says its been sold.”

“Yeah, something like that.” Sammy called from the back of the house. Jack followed, curious, and saw Sammy turn on a coffee maker in the kitchen.

“ Sammy, I don’t think that’s allowed. Especially in someone else’s house…”

“I don’t think the home owners will mind.” Sammy turned around, smiling. He leaned against the counter, facing Jack, and had this smile on his face that still, after over ten years together, made Jack’s stomach do somersaults. “Do me a favor? There’s milk in the fridge, can you get it out for the coffee?” Jack rolled his eyes, turned around, and opened the fridge, pausing and staring at something inside. An aluminum pan covered in foil, with a note in hand writing Jack had come to know pretty well over the last year or so, that said ‘Sammy and Jack! Welcome home neighbors! I am very excited to have you just down the street. I made some cinnamon rolls as a house warming present. Just warm them in the microwave. Love you two! Emily (and Ben).’ . Jack whirled around to see Sammy standing there, that shit eating grin of his firmly in place, still leaning against the counter, now with a coffee cup in his hand.

“You didn’t.”

“I did.”

“This is ours?”

“This is indeed our house now, yes.” Sammy looked happy, happier than Jack had seen him in a long time, and that, mixed with his own excitement, prompted him to do what he did next.

“I need you to put the coffee cup down for a second…” Jack began. Sammy set the cup on the counter, his expression now curious.

“Do you not li-“ Jack had crossed the room quickly and pulled Sammy in for a hug and a kiss, and he clung to Jack just as tightly as Jack was holding on to him.

“I love it. I love it. I love you. This is amazing. Sammy…” Sammy laughed and kissed him again, nodding towards the fridge.

“I love you too. And cinnamon rolls. But I love you more. “ That earned an eyeroll from his fiancé. “What say you we heat a couple of those up, take the coffee, and go watch the sunrise from our new back porch?” Jack nodded enthusiastically and, after looking in a couple of cabinets, he found a plate, and got to business.

Half an hour later, the coffee and cinnamon rolls they’d heated up were gone, and Jack was fast asleep, snuggled up against Sammy on a love seat on the small backyard porch. Sammy, on the verge of falling asleep himself, felt his phone vibrate in his jean’s pocket. Careful to not wake Jack, Sammy fished out the phone and saw a text message from Emily, who was in fact, at her house a few houses up. ‘Ben and I wanted to know how it went? Does he love it?’ Sammy grinned and texted back ‘Yes, he loves it and it’s perfect. Thank you for the rolls.’. Sammy fell asleep before getting a response, but it was alright.

For the first time in years, things were perfect.


	9. I'd Follow You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS FOR KING FALLS CHRONICLES PART 3.
> 
> Sammy and Jack discuss the merits of following someone you love for a chance at a happy ending after a broadcast with Lily in Florida, and both know they aren't talking about someone else's situation.

* * *

 

Sammy was staying at Jack’s apartment for a few days, as the air conditioner in his own apartment decided to break on him, the repair guy wouldn’t be there for days, and they were in the middle of a particularly bad Florida heat wave that was so graciously accompanied by humidity that would ruin a perm.

“So, how did you manage to get the NFL tickets for the show contest anyway?” Jack asked, taking two waters out of the fridge and tossing one to Sammy who had planted himself on the chair across the table from him. Sammy raised an eyebrow at his question, well aware that Jack didn’t actually care. “What?” Jack asked, his face a picture of sweetly faked innocence. Sammy shook his head and rolled his eyes, taking another drink of his water before putting the cap back on and putting his arms on the table, staring at him. Jack tried to ignore the small warmth in his cheeks. ‘ _Now isn’t the time Wright_.’ his mind told him. “What?” he asked again.

“So, a werewolf? I thought you thought werewolves were boring.” It was Jack’s turn to look at his friend, confused. “Last year.” Sammy began, picking an orange from a bowl on the table. “You were ranting about the media’s obsession with werewolves and you thought it was stupid because they only, and I quote ‘Give a shit because of those Twilight movies.’, and you got so mad because people only wrote about that lore that nothing interesting came up anymore. So you got bored with the whole thing.”

“You remembered that?” Jack laughed at the memory and let himself relax in his own chair. Sammy shrugged as if to say ‘Of course I did weirdo’. “Yeah well, old habits die hard.”

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks Wright.” Jack rolled his eyes and flipped Sammy off, making him laugh.

“Fuck you Stevens. You’re not even a year younger than me.”

“Whatever old man.” Jack took an orange from the bowl and tossed it at Sammy’s chest, which Sammy caught as it rolled down his stomach. “Ouch. My heart.”

“You are impossible.” Jack commented, taking his work notebook and a file folder out of his backpack.

“So what did you think about that conspiracy theory call in?” Sammy asked, looking out the window. Jack, not looking up from his work, shrugged.

“Which one? We had a couple. The one about Elvis, Bigfoot, or Area 51?”

“Elvis.” Sammy clarified.

“Well, I’ve heard a lot of interesting theories regarding Elvis but that certainly was one of the more um…creative ones.” Jack replied, finally looking at Sammy. “Why? Did the idea stick with you? You think Elvis followed his long lost love across the country to find them and try and have a happily ever after like the clearly stoned man on the phone implied?” Sammy laughed.

“I dunno, it’s just an interesting thing to think about. I wonder sometimes if anyone would ever love me that much.”

“Love you as much as what? To sing like Elvis?” Jack joked, earning another eyeroll from the man sitting across of him.

“Smartass.”

“You know it.” Jack looked back down at his notebook but he could feel Sammy’s eyes on him. He felt warm despite the air conditioner being on, and shifted in his seat, once again trying to ignore the warm feeling as well as the fluttering in his stomach.

“Still, giving up everything to follow the love of your life for even the most remote possibility that you’ll live happily ever after is….”

“Crazy?” Jack offered after a silence. He was blushing now, and could feel the air in the kitchen shift, the unspoken reasons behind Jack’s decision to move to Florida as well after Sammy announced one day that he was going back to his home state lingering in the air. Lily followed because, to her and to them, they were a package deal. With two of the three heading to the sunshine state, the third followed.

“ I was going to say dedicated.” Sammy replied. “Kind of romantic. I wonder what it’s like to be that in love with someone.” Jack felt his heart beat a bit faster and tried to look at anything in the room except for the man in front of him.

“I don’t um…” Jack got up, flustered. “I’m tired but we need to finish this outline for the special next week. If I make a pot of coffee will you have some?” Sammy nodded and Jack moved to the counter, taking the coffee grounds out and starting the coffee.

“I almost didn’t move back here.” Sammy was still looking at him, he could feel it, and Jack was very proud of the fact that he didn’t drop the two mugs he was getting out of a cupboard. “It was a close call decision wise. I liked it in California, I could have seen myself staying there easily.”

“Oh yeah?” Jack was getting things out of the fridge, preparing the mugs for the coffee, checking for anything for them to eat with their drinks, doing anything and everything to not look back at Sammy.

“Yeah.” Sammy got up, stretching his arms and letting out a small relieved sound at the relaxing of his muscles. Jack felt even warmer, nearly dropping a small pack of Oreos. This was not fair. Sammy knew exactly what he was doing. Although Jack had felt a little bit of satisfaction. He’d had a crush on Sammy ever since they’d met in their second to last year at the university they had intended, and now, three years later, Jack would be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t in love with him. He’d wondered if Sammy felt the same way before, having noticed him staring occasionally, getting flustered in some situations, stammering when they were physically close to each other, but his brain often wrote it off as his own feelings being projected on his best friend.

But then…then he remembered that Sammy, who is not a very touchy-feely person to begin with, had been sitting closer to him lately, both in the studio and just around. He was finding reasons to touch Jack’s hand or correcting his collar, fixing his hair…

Oh.

When the light behind him that was illuminating the counter dimmed, Jack sucked in a breath, and decided to have a bit of fun. He grabbed the mugs, turned around, and handed Sammy his, a smirk on his face, and then, grabbing the plate he put some food on, walked around Sammy, now standing with a look of confusion on his face, and sitting back down at the table, flipping his notebook open again and making like he was going to go back to work. Sammy walked back over to the table, sat down, and gave Jack a questioning look, to which Jack did a very good job of pretending not to see.

“Ultimately,” Sammy continued, attempting to act like nothing had happened as well, but Jack noted, with a small smile, that his voice cracked a bit. “it was because you two said you were coming as well like the strange little stalkers you are.” That comment earned an Oreo thrown at him and Sammy laughed. He leaned forward, arms folded in front of him on the table. “I didn’t like the idea of leaving and living somewhere where you….guys, you guys weren’t close by. So when you ….guys said you were coming too, and that we were, and I quote ‘a package deal’, I think that was what cinched it for me.” Jack closed his notebook again and gently pushed it to the side, then mimicked Sammy’s pose on the small kitchen table.

“So as a package deal, if my sister and I had moved to New York or something, would you have come with us?” Jack knew he was leaning closer and he knew Sammy was leaning closer. If Sammy wanted to play, he’d play.

“I suppose.”

“What if …what if I moved to the Caribbean or Washington, or some weird small town in the mountains, would you follow me then?”

“You said just you.” Sammy noted.

“I know.” Jack felt his heart beating fast and almost chastising himself for being so obvious. “ I meant what I said. So would you Stevens? Would you follow me?”

“What do you think Wright?” Sammy challenged.

Jack closed the distance between them and kissed him.

Eight years later, Sammy and Jack are laying on Sammy’s bed in the apartment he shared with Ben. Finally getting to go home after two days of the hospital and questioning, they were on the verge of sleep, ready to be asleep for ages, when Sammy felt Jack squeeze his hand.

“You followed me Stevens.” Jack said, moving even closer to Sammy, who was spooning him. Jack felt Sammy’s arms tightening around him, the dim light from the bedside table lamp the only light in the room.

“Of course, I did Wright.”

 

The end.


	10. Things Will Be Great

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily has questions for Jack, Jack has embarrassing stories for Lily, Ron and Ben argue about Kingsie.

* * *

 

They’re sitting in the kitchen at Lily’s apartment, Jack helping her edit a new episode of Wright On while Sammy and Ben are at the new studio when she asks a few questions that had been bugging her for a while, although she had a feeling that she knew the answers.

“So Jack…” Lily began, looking up from her laptop at her brother who was sitting across the island from her, still concentrating on the soundbites and music he was editing for the show, one side of his headphones on and the other off, his glasses sliding down his nose. Lily couldn’t help the small smile that formed at the familiar sight. She missed this.

“So Lily…” Jack returned, still not looking up from his laptop. Lily rolled her eyes and shifted her laptop to the side, placing her arms on the table, head in hands, and fixing her brother with a stare that had creeped him out since they were kids. Jack sighed after a minute, took his glasses off, and finally met his sister’s stare. “Yes?”

“You and the fiancé.” Jack arched an eyebrow at the question given as a statement and waited, if she wanted to know more about their relationship after they left Florida, she could ask. “When um…when did you two get um…engaged?” Another eyebrow quirk from her brother and Lily sighed heavily, dropping her head to her now lazy arms and making a noncommittal noise of frustration. “I’m trying…really hard to be better with everything. I’m getting along better with Sammy, aren’t I? We came to an understanding and I’m…trying to make up for lost time. So I want to um…I want to know more about your relationship, the stuff a sister is supposed to know. So I want to ask you a few things and I figured I’d ask about the engagement.”  

“ About four months before I was taken. Near the beginning of the research that I did that got me taken. Quite the memory knowing the day after I got engaged to the love of my life a phone call from someone from a literal other dimension would send me in a downward spiral that would separate me from that love for nearly 5 years.” Jack saved the file and closed his laptop, massaging the bridge of his nose. “ I’m sorry. That’s not… he proposed to me. We made the decision the day before to start telling people we were together. We both were tired of having to sneak around and act like we weren’t together. He was really sick, and I had to deal with this annoying intern who was filling in for him and I couldn’t…take any time off to take care of Sammy because why would I? In the eyes of the studio I was just his buddy from Florida who was a producer who went with him. I came home the next day to a smoke alarm blaring from inside the house. I ran to the door, freaking out, obviously, and there was Sammy airing out the kitchen through the windows, fans on, coughing. I asked him what the hell he was doing, especially out of bed, and he looked really embarrassed. He was trying to make dinner and I guess he burned something and since he was still groggy, it took him a minute to react, and by then there was smoke everywhere. I led him back to our room and there was like…god he was so cheesy…” Jack laughed and covered his face with his hands. Lily smiled. “Rose petals…”

“Oh my godddddd…” Lily groaned and Jack laughed again.

“Yeah.”

“What a cheeseball.”

“Yeah, but he’s my cheeseball.” Jack leaned against the table, a cheesy smile on his face. “Anyway, I asked him what the fuck was going on and if he somehow got some kind of illegal drugs because what the hell? He looked really embarrassed and then mumbled something about ‘this not going how [he] planned it’, and I was like ‘How you planned wha…oh.’ And then this idiot tries to like, get on one knee and shit and I just bring him back up and get him to the bed, all while Sammy’s trying to somehow repair what he thought was a failed proposal. I rolled my eyes and settled down next to him on the bed, he was fumbling to find something in the pockets of the bathrobe he’d put on because it was unusually cold that year. I found the little box for him and he grunted a thank you. He kept fumbling with the box and I eventually took the box and opened it and there was the ring and …” Jack drifted off a bit, and Lily felt a similar feeling to when it finally hit home how much Sammy really loved Jack, but it felt even more clarifying this time because it was her brother. The dreamy smile on her younger brother’s face because of the memory of his engagement made her pause.

“And he said, ‘Listen Jacky boy..’…” Lily began, bringing Jack out of his day dream.

“Shush.” He reprimanded, smiling. “ He kept saying sorry, because…I guess he’d had this all planned for a while, and didn’t want to put it off. When I pointed out there was a likelihood, he wouldn’t remember it because he was on cold medicine, a lot of it, he promised he would remember because…” There was a blush creeping up in his cheeks and Lily had to laugh. He was a difficult man to embarrass or just make blush in general. “…because, and I quote ‘It’s not every day you propose to the love of your life, and the universe will make sure I remember.’. Which…you know, part of that was the cold medicine but the other part… Sammy can be very mushy and sappy, he just doesn’t like to show it much. I hear he’s gotten better with admitting when he cares, which is good. Then he tried to take the ring out of the box and like, put it on my hand but he was really out of it, so I gently took it and before I put it on I said ‘There’s no taking this back once I put this ring on Stevens, so here’s your last chance.’ and he replied ‘You’re stuck with me for eternity Wright, this is _your_ last chance.’ and I put the ring on, smiled at him, and kissed his forehead before telling him to go back to sleep because he looked awful. He was all ‘What, you aren’t going to give your fiancé a kiss on the lips?’ and I was like ‘No, not when you’re sick I am not. Go to bed idiot.’ .”

“Did he sleep?”

“Yeah, he called me a butt-head and then fell asleep.” They both burst out laughing and both siblings felt a wave of peace over the calm that came over the room. Jack smiled at his sister and noticed she still looked puzzled, or rather, concerned. There was a full minute of silence before Jack smiled sadly and sighed. “You also want to know why I didn’t tell you, even though we were starting to talk again before I was taken.”

“ I mean…I can guess why, and I understand.” Lily sat up and stretched out her arms, trying to think of what to say next.

“I was going to tell you.” Jack said, his tone a bit defensive and a bit sad. “ I just…I wanted to try and get you to… I don’t know, feel better about the relationship first? I didn’t want to tell you I was engaged to the guy you blamed for our trio splitting up. Which…” Jack’s eyebrows raised and he pointed at her.

“Wasn’t 100% his decision nor his fault, I know. I’m sorry.”

“Well, I mean we did spring it on you…”

“I could have handled the news better.”

“I kissed him first.”

“What?” Lily looked at him questioningly and saw the smirk on his face.

“I said that I kissed him first. I initiated the relationship.”

“I remember you had a crush on him from pretty early on.” Lily replied, smiling. There was the blush again.

“Yeah…well…um…” Jack fake coughed and moved to open his laptop again, and Lily let out a cackle.

“You would like, ogle him when he wasn’t looking.”

“I did _not_ ogle Sammy…”

“You so did. I saw you staring at his ass more than once the first week we knew him at college.”

“I hate you.” Jack muttered, opening his laptop.

“No you don’t.” She paused and took a minute to just watch him. Watching Jack do mundane things had become a bit of a hobby for both her and Sammy. They couldn’t help it. They were still reeling over getting him back. “When did it grow from a … to um…love?”

“When did it….you mean when did I realize I’d fallen in love with him and it wasn’t just a crush anymore?” Lily nodded. “I…this is so cliché… I realized it when he told us at lunch that day that he was moving back to Florida to pursue that radio job. I felt this pit in my stomach and the thought of him not…and then I just thought ‘No, wait, but I love him…’ and suddenly I really liked the idea of moving to Florida for a job… Sammy told me later, after we got together that he’d been in love with me for months, and he was considering not going at all if I hadn’t come along as well.”

“God, you two are going to give me cavities.”

“You asked.”

“I know.”

“I could tell you more… I could tell you the story about the first time we told each other ‘ I love you’…”

“Is it as cheesy as the proposal story?”

“Way cheesier.”

“Ughhh.”

“So we’d been seeing each other for a few wee…” Jack laughed as he dodged a crumpled up piece of paper aimed at his head, and put his glasses back on. Looking at the time on the computer, he reached over and turned on the radio Lily had on the island, smiling. It was 5:56 am, and the guys were wrapping things up.

“I’m not saying Kingsie is related to the Loch Ness Monster Ron. We need to wrap things up.” Ben’s exasperated voice was the first heard, followed by Sammy’s laugh and Ron’s grunt.

“Whatever Arnold. I know you’ve been readin’ all about that Scottish fake…”

“Alright Ron, folks, it’s time to wrap things up for the night. Ron, if you want to continue arguing with Ben, we’ll be done soon, you can always yell at him later.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah Sammy. We all know you just want to get home to your adorable spit-fire of a fiancé, and I can respect that. Ben, this isn’t over.” There was a dial tone and the sounds of Ben laughing, with Sammy groaning in the background. Jack, in turn, was blushing and Lily was laughing so hard she almost fell off her stool.

“Well…um… it’s…it’s 6 am, and Jenny’s Country Corner is coming up next. Have a good day King Falls…Ben shut up!” There was more laughing, a thud, and the outro music played.

Lily decided in that moment that things were going to be more than okay, they’d be great.


End file.
